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Newbie, over heating?????

I am building my first PC. I have a:
ATX Mid-tower case
soyo K7VTA-B,
ATI Fury Rage Pro video card,
AMD t-bird 1Ghz,
Deer 250W PS,
128mb PC133 SDRAM,
ARX ACC5050-08VHZ CPU cooler,
WD 20gig 7200 rpm ata100.
56x cd rom
cd-rw 8x8x32
Here is the problem.
When I get ready to load Win 98 it crashes repeatedly, finally got it installed but not smoothly. Got up and running but was unstable when using Outlook, it would freeze up. It was recommended that I re partition and reformat so I could load 98 without it crashing. As it was loading my hardware drivers it froze up. I turned the system off and on and then got "no video display". My processor burned up. This is the second time this has happened. I did not add the thermal gel I was told it was not needed but someone that never adds it. I think my CPU was too hot and I want to buy a new cooling fan. I plan to buy the GlobalWin FOP32-1. Is this a good one and quite? Where can I find the best price? If I buy this one it comes with a thermal pad and their website says to leave this on there is no need to add the gel but I hear conflicting opionions. I have no intention to overclock. And really the big question is what am I doing wrong? Is the power supply sufficient? I have several friends that say it is. I hope I have given enough information because I sure do need help. Just received a new processor and currently am waiting on my motherboard to come back. Thanks in advance.

Well Cindy... Looks like your heatsink fan is rated for Tbirds up to one gig. But the specs on that fan are a little slack. 10 cfm of airflow doesn't seem like enough.
Look into more airflow.
Your first TBird burnt up didn't it?, hence the lockups and crashing. You need to go to the AMD site and research all you can about heatsink installation and thermal solutions.
And btw, loose the thermal pad on the heatsink and use some heatsink compound... radio shack brand @1.99 is better than that pad anytime. RESEARCH the heatsink installation , trust me

Yeah I would recomend bumping up to atleast 300watt and 350-400 if you can afford it. An AMD certified generic psu should be fine. Also the fop32 should provide you with decent cooling. Use either the radio shack thermal compound or artic silver 2 thermal compound instead of the frag tape. Also when I first started I had problems with generic ram, if the better cooling doesn't solve your problems you may need to aquire some crucial, or other brand name ram.

Yes it sounds heat releated. The PS issue might give you some trouble but it sounds like you fried your CPU. Now whewn you talk about no thermal grease are you talking about using the thermal pad that is shipped on some coolers (like the FOP32-1) or are you talking about using nothing. If you do not use some form of thermal material you will FRY your CPU. Also make sure you remove the tape that covers the pad (it is to protect it for shipping and will act as an insolator... again like used on the FOP32-1).

As for PS the Deer 300w is rated for 1Ghz, but not the 250. I have never heard of that cooler, but a lot of places will rate theri coolers way too high. Cooler Master rated the heatsink that shipped with my CPU for 1.2Ghz. It ran my Duron600 at 55'C under load at default speeds. My GlobalWin FOP32-1 keeps it under 40'C at 900Mhz. Now I also ran a cheap genaric 250w PS for about 3 months at 900Mhz. It eventually burned out, but they only trouble it ever gave me was on a cold boot, I sometimes had to reboot (or it did it for me) to get Windows to load completely. Once into Windows it ran 100% stable.

Also if you EVER play 3D games, get another graphics card. Even a Voodoo3 wilkl do you better and they are running about $30 on some sites (check pricewatch.com).

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The COMPUTER is your FRIEND!
Happiness is manditory.

Thank you everyone. I have my new processor and am waiting on my motherboard. I will purchase a new fan and power supply. One question about power supplies. Are all power supplies the same size or should I be concerned with whether it will fit in my ATX case?
Thanks again.

I'm not sure of PSU sizes, but I beleive they are all pretty much standard by now. What you want to look for is the air venting... meaning look for air (intakes) in the bottom of the power supply unit. these will pull that hot air away from your heatsink area and blow it out of the case. Once again, the AMD site has all the answers for you. Just look for the "thermal solutions" link. and btw , glad we could be of assistance